The book is
a critique of Part I (Sexual Offences) of the UK
Government's Sexual Offences Bill in the form in
which it was introduced into the House of Lords
on 28 January 2003. The Bill is expected to be given
Royal Assent in November 2003. So there is still
time to change it, if the book's warnings are heeded.

The book is based
on the fundamental proposition laid down in FB's
related book The Sex Code: Morals for Moderns that
sexual positivism or the healthy acceptance of human
sexuality, seeking its fulfilment, is largely absent
from British society - even though it is essential for human happiness. Yet
much of Part I of the Bill is fuelled by public hysteria and founded on what
might be termed a Victorian spinster's view of sex, namely that it is frightening,
horrendous, and fit only for life with one's head beneath the bedclothes
desperately
hoping no wicked man will approach.

There are no fewer
than 57 varieties of new sexual offences contained
in Part I of the Bill. Some, but not many, replace
existing offences that would
be
abolished by it. The Government's proposals are not based on any system
of morals and values. On the question of a basis
of agreed common morality the
Bill is strangely silent, as was the White Paper on which it is based.
While some sexual acts are obviously immoral and
criminal, the vast majority are
innocent and healthy A few others are on the borderline. Here there is
a grey area, which needs to be addressed very carefully
by those who lay down
the
criminal law. The proposals in the Bill fail to do that, as the book explains.

Contents

The text of the sections within the book can be
read by clicking on the relevant link. Italicised
lines relate paragraphs within the sections.

You are able to read the text of the
book on-line, either in html or
Adobe pdf format.

Publishing
Details

Title

Sexual
Ethics and Criminal Law

Subtitle

A Critique
of the Sexual Offences Bill 2003

ISBN

0 9542855 2 2

Type of book

Paperback

Number of Volumes

1

Number of Pages

47

Name of Publisher

Lester Publishing

Address of Publisher

29 Pegasus Road,
Oxford OX4 6DS

Date of publication

2003

Reprinted

No

Current edition

1st

Previous editions

None

Supplements

None

Current availability

Out of print

Selections
from reviews

"It seems a thoughtful,
passionate, knowledgeable and careful piece of work
and if what half it says is true then [the Sexual
Offences Bill] is the shoddiest, meanest-minded
most ignorant and demotically creepy piece of legislation
the government has yet to let fall."

- Stephen Fry

"In a trenchant analysis of the
Bill's provisions, Bennion argues that the Government's
attempt to deal with the problem through the inventive
creation of more and more criminal offences is misconceived
and even dangerous. But of course he is crying for
the moon if he expects a reactionary Home Secretary,
in a Government chasing popular votes, to do anything
else."